croaker newsletter dec 2011 final

8/3/2019 Croaker Newsletter Dec 2011 Final

1/8

Welcome to our 7thedition of the WSN Restoring Our

Waterways Croaker Newsletter and the last for 2011.

It was a very busy October with all

the Environmental Events and

working with the students from WHS

Community Learning Challenge for

October and November. November

was a little quieter with the Cubs

Walk at North Beaches, National

Recycling Week and Native Fish

Week. On second thoughts November was just as busy asSeptember and October. To tell the truth the whole of 2011

has been full on with great environmental events and the

CLC students keeping me very busy and getting WSN

Restoring Our Waterways known to the community. Thanks

to the Chronicle and all the great articles on Rubbish and the

Environment. I have had several phone calls telling me how

wide spread the dumping of rubbish around our waterways

is. A keen fisherman rang telling me about areas where he

goes fishing and that there is always rubbish dumped

spoiling the pleasure of fishing and enjoying our waterways.

I also had a phone call from Graeme from Wareena Bowls

Club requiring drink bottles to promote drinking water from

the tap so the clubs members will not get dehydrated in the

up and coming summer months. After talking to North East

Water they agreed to supply 50 drinking bottles to the Club,

this will take place shortly on a bowls social day and I have

even been invited to have a game of bowls with the

members which sounds like fun.

In order to get the community to take notice it pays to

advertise the problems we have around our waterways and

how precious our most life giving resource is. Without

WATER all things die and it is so very important that we ALL

start to take care of it and not take it for granted. You justdont know what is around the corner, just because we have

had a good year of rain doesnt mean we can waste it. Well

thats my gripe for the summer months; dont waste it,

recycle it as much as you can and dont pollute it.

So lets get started on the articles about all the things ROW

has been active with..

Tuesday 4th October

Met Cheryl from the Chronicle where the large amount of

rubbish has been dumped near the bridge on Tone Road

beside 15 Mile Creek for a photo and to my surprise there

was more rubbish added to the pile already out there. A red

bike and 2 wheels (nothing wrong with it) a pair of crutches

and a few more piles of green waste. The longer it takes to

have some action done on trying to catch the people the

worse the problem will become, hit them in the back pocket

where it hurts the most and I guess the only way that will

happen is if I sit out there with my trusty little camera all

weekend and catch them as I cant see any one from Council

or government department doing anything about it. I have

informed Council, EPA, VICROADS and even NECMA (but it is

not in the water or on the banks). Trying to find the

Committee of Management for that area is like trying to find

a needle in a haystack.

Update on rubbish dumped near 15 Mile Creek Tone

Rd in the October issue. The rubbish and more is still

there. The piece de resistance is a pile of faeces and used

toilet paper. After three months there has been no action so

I wonder how long it will take?

Diane Farmer, Coordinator, WSN Restoring Our Waterways

[email protected]

0439 020 448

PO Box 772, Wangaratta VIC 3677

To all our readers a

Merry Christmas

And

Happy New YearRegards Di Farmer and Joshua Newth

Contents

Introduction 1

The Wangaratta Show, Walktober and Ride,Ride to Work 2

My Backyard Rules 2

Water Week Activities, All Things Water Expo,Water Week Presentation Night 3

Cubs Walk Around North Beach 3 - 4

Traveling Waste Seminar 4

Native Fish Week & Launch of the TalkingFish Booklet 4 - 5

Wednesday with CLC Students 5 - 6

Nineteen Years of Waterway HealthInformation Now Available Online 6 7

Upcoming Events 7

Whos at Fault 7 8

Wangaratta Community Pride Committee 8

December , 2011 Issue #7
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/8

The WSN Restoring Our WaterwaysCROAKERNewsletter Page 2

December 2011

THE WANGARATTA SHOWFriday 7th & 8th October, Article by Di Farmer

Great weather and WSN were in

the Landcare large Marque. Lots of

Government Departments; DPI,

DSE, Rural City of Wangaratta,

LANDCARE, Park Lane Nursery and

several other groups. It was rather

quiet as the Marquee was tucked

at the back of the Circus on the side road but still lots of

good PR. Thanks to Pat Larkin from Landcare.

WALKTOBER AND RIDEWednesday 12th October (8am start), Article by Di Farmer

What a lovely way to start

your day walking along the

path beside One Mile Creek

birds chirping, the sun

warming the environment

and your soul. About 8

walking with me from the

Phillipson St bridge and

there were lots of conversations. One minute you were

walking and talking to one person and then there was

someone else beside you to chat to, meeting new people is

so rewarding and enjoyable. We arrived at GoTafe just after

8.30am, a very delightful healthy breakfast was there waiting

for us to enjoy. All the other walkers had already arrived and

were into breakfast. Cereal, fruit salad, yogurt, cheese and

ham croissant, fetta, tea and coffee. Slowly the bike riders

started to arrive, some a little well-worn and others like the

ride had just begun. I will let one of the riders tell that story.

RIDE TO WORKWednesday 12th October, Article by Julie Tyler, Health Promotion

Officer, Womans Health Goulburn North East

It was a perfect way to start

a Wednesday morning. The

sky was clear and I turned

up at GoTafe to meet my

fellow cyclists, not knowing

who else would be there.

Everyone was friendly and

our ride leader did a sterlingjob. There were a couple of wobbly tandems bike-riders and

one couple made it look easy. Someone generously offered

me their spare gloves as mine were left at home. It was a

lovely opportunity to make acquaintances with others of

similar mind, as we enjoyed a leisurely tour of Wangarattas

bike tracks. Most of us arrived back at GoTafe to a delicious

breakfast to celebrate Ride to Work Day. The morning was

not without its mishaps: we did lose one tandem and therewas a tyre puncture to add to our adventure. Thank you to

those who organised the ride; it was a great start to my

work day and I look forward to next year.

Thanks to The Centre CARN, GoTafe and WSN Restoring Our

Waterways for organising this event.

MY BACKYARD RULESSaturday 15th October 2011, Article by Di Farmer

What a beautiful day the sun was shining and no rain in

sight. There was a lot of people walking around and visiting

all the stands. Outside there were about 10 differentorganisations answering questions and giving

demonstrations. NE Water and DSE had great activities for

the children and NECMA had a very informative display about

Aliens in our

waterways. The

dreaded Eastern

Gambusia tiny little

fish that can cause

a lot of damage to

our Native Fish and

the very overtaking

water plant calledParrots Feather that had a very strong hold in One Mile

Creek a few years back but is now just a few patches around

thanks to the great work of the NECMA crew and me

because as soon as I see any of it I report it. It is such a

beautiful looking plant but so dangerous and it all started

because someone emptied their fish tank contacts into One

Mile Creek, if only people would realise how such a

thoughtless act could cause so much damage and expense

to get rid of it they

just might think

twice before they

put anything in ourwaterways. Park

Lane Nursery had

a fabulous array of

native plants for

sale. There was

information on solar panels and water wise displays. Inside

WSN had fruit fly info, Energy Meters and ROW information.

The Rural City was there with great info and free rain gauges

and shower timers as well as the Bush Regeneration guys.

Wangaratta Community Pride was giving out information on

the Community Pride Awards which will be awarded in 2012.

There was a lot more to see and do that the communitycould learn about.


3/8


December 2011

WATER WEEK ACTIVITIESTour of NEWater Treatment Plant Wangaratta

Thursday 20th October, Article by Di Farmer

The tours started at 7am and I walked over the Ovens

bridge from home and could smell breakfast being cooked, a

very nice way to start the day. The tour was very informative

and I had a personal guide. It is really a lot of hard work by

just a few people and computers and the amount of testing

that is constantly going on, I think we all take water coming

out of our taps for granted and dont think for one second

the amount of time and effort it takes so that can happen.

Rowan OHagan was there and it is great to have her on the

NE Water board. Breakfast was great and some great

conversation was enjoyed and the cooks did a great job,

very nice bacon & egg muffins.

If only more people would take the time to take these tours,

the community just might realize that Water is our most

precious resource.

ALL THINGS WATER EXPOFriday 21st October, Article by Di Farmer

We started setting up about 9.30am,Alan ODea the top bar-

b-que man got busy setting up ready to start cooking. Helen

& Peter Curtis started setting up inside the arcade with their

great dog display. I started setting up WSN & ROW tables

and Emma and Vanessa from WATERWATCH set up with

their Macroinvertebrate display, also Marg Pullen from

Community Pride Committee was there.

The Display for Water Week on the

Post Office Wall looked terrific thanks

to Sally Colsons help. Lots of

information about water and our

Waterways, what is in them and the

animals that live in our local

environment and also the plants in our

area plus information about Native FishWeek in November. There was a great

article in the Chronicle on Wednesday 19th. The SES display

trailer and The Rural

City of Wangaratta with

NECMA stormwater

display model were set

up out the front of the

arcade. There was anice flow of people

taking a look at all that

was there both inside

and outside the arcade.

About 70 sausages were served up by Alan so he was kept

rather busy cooking and serving on his own. Lots of free

things to give away and there was not much left by 2pm.

There was lots of interest in the Waterwatch

macroinvertebrate display; people seem to like checking

whats living in our waterways.

WATER WEEK PRESENTATION NIGHTFriday 21st October, Article by Di Farmer

What a great night. There were about 160 members of the

community including all the finalists

for all the competitions, family and

friends. There was a great finger

food meal served up as we all

arrived, and then we all moved into

the auditorium for the presentation

of prizes. All the photos, posters,

photographs and films that were

shown were excellent and the

winners of all the competitions were

well deserved. It was great to see

the little pre-schoolers involved, all

up and coming environmentalists and WSNs little Alice

Colson did us proud dressed up as a water tank.

The entertainment was Andy Kimber and friend on the

ukulele singing songs about fish, Algae and Waterwatch and

this was fun. It is pleasing to see so many people interested

in water whether it be through photos, posters and films as

WATER really is our most precious resource and should be

our first priority to get more people to conserve it and not

waste it and more recycling should be done by allhouseholds and Government agencies.

I am sure there will be lots of people looking forward to next

years competitions. Thanks to NECMA and North East Water

for such a successful Water Week.

CUBS WALK AROUND NORTH BEACHESSaturday 5th November, Article by Di Farmer

The morning started about 10am with a fantastic

presentation by Scott Draper and Andrew Snowdon

Environment & Bush Regeneration Dept of the Rural City of

Wangaratta all about what the cubs might see on their walk.The cubs were all given a great work sheet called

Biodiversity Bingo which had animals and plants on it that

Emma, Cr. Rozi Parisotto and Vanessa


4/8


December 2011

they had to cross off

when they spotted

them. Scott & Andrew

even had pictures of

the nocturnal animals

attached to some ofthe trees. There were

about 25 cubs and the

noise sometimes was

a little loud but

Andrew went into the

bush a couple of times so some of the birds and ducks would

fly so the cubs could spot them. The information that all of

us heard, both the cubs and the adults, were things that

would stay with you. The Scar trees had the cubs very

interested and the possum climbing tree had them all

wanting to have a little go at climbing it. After the walk there

was another little talk with a question and answer time andthe cubs had learnt a lot by their answers. We then had a

little morning tea and the cubs

gave Scott, Andrew and I a

special Cub Thank you.

A walk next year has been

booked by Charles from

Myrtleford Cubs, looks like the

walks will be a yearly event. Its

great to know we have some up

and coming environmentalists

through the Cubs.

TRAVELLING WASTE SEMINARTuesday 8th November, Article by Di Farmer

About 10 members of the

community gathered at the

Eco Centre at the HP Barr

Reserve where Richard

Paschke, Manager of Bowser,

gave a great talk about what

was going on out at the Bowser Landfill. We then boarded

the bus and headed for Bowser (our driver was Tatum a little

surprising how good she was I would give anything to seeher behind the wheel of a big truck, move over boys Tatum

is on the road). The landfill looked rather clean and

everything all sorted in to piles that should not have been

sent to landfill. What

caught my eye was the

pile of mattresses that

had been pulled out,

several of them looked

rather new. A guess by

me how they got there is

in those skips people use

when they are cleaning out a deceased persons housebecause I saw that happen near me. The skip was full of

good house hold items and furniture and I wondered

whether these skips were checked for recycled items, I

guess not. At the moment there is a skip at the same house

and there are large car tyres in it. I think there should be

some strict instruction on what can go in them or special

recycle skips. Sorry for the detour. It was great to see the

big machines working on the rubbish and a new cell to holdour rubbish being built. The other most noticeable thing was

all the plastic bags around, even where the cells had been

filled in and the rubbish being compacted into the ground.

There must be something that could be done about that.

Ban plastic bags at supermarkets would be a great start or

charge 20 cents a bag and

the money go to the

environment like they did a

while back but I believe the

Vic Government is not into

that. Might have to have a

chat to Tim McCurdy MP ourlocal member or maybe Sophie Mirabella MP and go over the

State Governments head (I am good at that). Sorry for

another detour. All in all the tour was great just such a

shame there were not more people interested in seeing what

happens to their rubbish, it just might convince them not to

have so much rubbish and recycle more. When we got back

to the ECO centre there was a question and answer time and

David Hicks from NevRwaste gave us some information and

answered some of the questions. The tour concluded with a

very nice afternoon tea.

The amount of rubbish that comes off uncovered loads, you

just would not believe. Just ask Marg Pullen about the

rubbish at North Wang or the companies along Sandford Rd

on the way to the transfer station who have to do a regular

clean up. Sorry for getting detoured on so many issues but

rubbish is my passion and how to stop people just dumping

where ever they like is a full time job. I do have one last

burning question, if there are natural springs out at Bowser

and it sits on top of the Aquifer with not much between the

water and the ground, why havent Council moved to a more

suitable place away from the very precious ground water we

have in that area.

NATIVE FISH WEEK & LAUNCH OF THE

TALKING FISH BOOKLETTuesday 8th November 6pm, Article by Di Farmer

The weather was

perfect to enjoy inside

and on the balcony at

Watermarc Restaurant

in Faithful Street. There

was a good crowd

talking and enjoying a

few drinks when I

arrived. About 7pm the

launch started with anFern Hames, Di Farmer and

Vanessa Thompson


5/8


December 2011

intro from Adrian Wells, Community Taskforce chair, and

Fern Hames, Community Engagement co-coordinator for

Native fish strategy, and they introduced a couple of the

keen fisherman who had stories in the Talking Fish booklet

which was very entertaining with a few stories that made

everyone have a laugh. Fern did a great presentation aboutthe Ovens Reach progress and Anthony Wilson gave an

update on the fish pathway which NECMA hope to get in

place soon. We then moved out onto the balcony to enjoy

some delicious finger food and a few drinks. There were

some great giveaways about Native Fish and of course the

Talking Fish booklet for the Ovens area. It was great to see

members of WULG and WSN there and I brought along my

neighbours and a couple of friends. It was a terrific night for

learning more about

fishing in the

Wangaratta area and to

know there are somany people interested

in using our wonderful

waterways for

enjoyment.

WEDNESDAYS WITH CLC STUDENTS

Wednesday 19th October

Gill and I met the

students at the back of

Sams warehouse to do

some fishing Along the

Ovens River. I had to

leave about 10am to

go to Oak FM and go

on air with some other

CLC students so Gill was left in charge. When I arrived back

at 12.30pm they had made their way along to Frank Grath

Reserve. I asked what had they caught me for dinner but

there was nothing in the bucket except for a mussel which

would not even sustain me. The boys had a swim and a bit

of lunch then we went fishing under the Ovens Bridge. Jack

nearly caught a fish but he was winding in his line to fast

and spotted the fish following the bait too late and pulled his

line out of the water. We then moved down to the Sydney

Foot Bridge but no luck there either, but it was a great day

of trying to catch a fish.

Wednesday 2nd NovemberArticle by Di Farmer and Gill Baker

WSN Restoring Our Waterways have 6 CLC students from

Wangaratta High School working with them to help clean up

our waterways this Semester, they are: Alex Marklew, Alex

Dunstan, Jeremy Sims, Matt Teasdale, Bryan Barnett and

Jack Lancaster.

We have been working along Three Mile, One Mile Creeks

and Phillipson Street Wetlands, water monitoring, checking

macroinvertebrate life, fishing, and studying the

environment. The boys have also been walking our

waterways collecting rubbish, at the same time finding out

just how much rubbish there is in our waterways.

They have removed a few small lots of alien Eastern

Gambusia and some juvenile carp, but today Scott RaymondBSc (PhD) Freshwater Ecologist from Arthur Rylah institute

for Environmental Research DSE and Jarrod Lyon also a

freshwater Ecologist came up from Melbourne to show the

students how to remove alien fish by netting and traps, as

well as how to identify the fish so no native fish would be

removed from our waterways.

Scott spent about half an

hour talking to the

students, Gill Baker and I

about native fish and the

best way to do the project,firstly by mapping where

the nets and traps are put

in and to repeat this

several times on a regular bases recording what is found,

this will give an idea of the problems alien fish cause, and

how well the Native fish are surviving and the condition of

the water they are in.

After getting one of the students to volunteer to enter the

pond, and under instruction from Scott & Jarrod, the first

dragging of the net started. In the first cast there were

about 15 Eastern Gambusia and a couple of Western carp

gudgeon (native fish), on the second cast there were lots(about 25) of the Western carp gudgeon and heaps of newly

hatched babies and about 18 Eastern Gambusia. On the third

try which was on the other side of the pond there was

nothing in the net. There were three large Carp spotted

swimming in the middle of the pond, so we know they are

there we will have to spend a day trying to catch them

before the project finishes.

It was a great session with Scott and Jarrod and we all learnt

the best way to try and achieve our objective of removing

alien fish, and how to improve conditions for the native fish

to survive.

It will be a long project, so next years students will be ableto carry on with the project as long as the methodology for

checking and removal of alien fish at the Phillipson Street

Back: Jarrod Lyon, Bryan, Matt, Jack, Scott Raymand, Alex D

Front: Alex M, Jeremy

Beryl, Bob, John and Ian


6/8


December 2011

Wetlands is documented. This can then be repeated in areas

like One Mile Creek and the Ovens & King Rivers. All the

Eastern Gambusia were put into a bucket of iced water

which is the humane way to deal with them, and all the

native fish were put back into the pond as soon as they were

identified.The afternoon session with Scott & Jarrod was so

informative and for the students, Gill and I now have the

information we need to move forward with this long term

project which can also be shared with other High Schools as

well as Primary Schools and all other members of our

community.

Many thanks to Scott and Jarrod from the Arthur Rylah

institute for Environmental research, Department of

Sustainability and Environment for their time.

Wednesday 9th November

I met the students

down at the Phillipson

St Wetlands at 1pm No

Matt but I somehow

gained 2 extra students

Shannon Bell and

Braeden Brendel but

that was OK as we

were going to try and

catch Carp out of the

first pond. After baiting up their hooks with some nice worms

the Carp started biting and in a short while there was a totalof 10 carp caught and put into the bucket of ice. The boys

were so proud of themselves and I was delighted that there

were 10 less carp in our waterways.

Wednesday 16th NovemberArticle by Di Farmer and Gill Baker

At 1.30pm Alex D, Alex M,

Bryan and Jeremy arrived,

fishing rods in hand, to have

a last go at removing some

Carp from the Phillipson

Street Wetlands. Gill and I

had a few extra helpers today

interested in the Alien fish

and the CLC project that

ROW has been doing with the

students, they were Andy

Kimber, Peter Maddock from

WSN and Neil Schultz a new volunteer registered with The

Centre Community Skillsbank. The boys started fishing but

they only had cheese as bait with them today, and they only

caught 1 Carp, it appears the Carp mainly like worms as

there was a big catch last week using worms and of course

we had extra students helping that day.

Andy, Peter and Neil got on well with the students and there

was a lot of conversation around what has been going on

with the project and of course fish (a boy thing). Seeing the

catch was disappointing in the pond it was decided to go

over to the Ovens River to have a go at fishing but there was

no luck there either. So seeing it was the last day working ontheir project we all felt a little treat was in order, so the boys

went for a swim (a bit too cold for the adults to jump in but

you know the saying no sense no feeling) and the boys soon

found out how cold the water was. Seeing there were so

many supervisors 5 to the 4 students a close eye was kept

on the diving in.

Alex D seemed to have the most

fun as he tried to climb up the

bank to get out he got part of the

way up the bank then he would

slide back down into the water

and the practice runs of trying to

do a fancy dive in had us

laughing, he was taking so long

doing the run ups I was ready to

go and just push him in but he took a deep breath and

finally jumped only to stuff the dive up. Trying to get them

out of the water to head back to school was our toughest

task for the afternoon but we got there.

Over the semester we had a few control problems but all in

all the students were keen to have their project be a success

and as far as WSN Restoring Our Waterways is concerned

they did a fantastic job; removing bags of rubbish from ourwaterways without being asked, removing alien Eastern

Gambusia and Carp from the Phillipson Street Wetlands and

15 Mile Creek, and testing the water quality and

macroinvertebrates.

They learned about the amount of rubbish in our waterways

and also the plight of native fish because of competition

from the alien fish that have been introduced. All 6 students

that worked with ROW were a credit to their parents, school

and themselves and at the finish of every project day they

would always say Thank you to whoever had them from

WSN-ROW.

The two lots of students from both semesters this year have

been great and helped ROW members also learn more about

our waterways and I look forward to having students

continuing on with the project of removing Alien Fish from

our waterways in 2012.

NINETEEN YEARS OF

WATERWAY HEALTH

INFORMATION NOW

AVAILABLE ONLINE

River, stream and creek water quality information collected

by Waterwatch volunteers over the past 19 years is now

Bryan, Shannon, Alex M, Alex D, Jeremy,


7/8


December 2011

available to the public following the launch of the new online

Waterwatch Victoria Data Management System.

The Waterwatch Victoria Data Management System will

provide Victorians with easy online access to information

about the health of their local waterways. Almost 600

volunteers collect regular water quality data from over 1500monitoring sites across Victoria. Through this online system

the public can now access data about their local waterway,

including historical data for 6,200 sites across Victoria and

current data for 1,521 sites. The type of information includes

physical and chemical data such as dissolved oxygen

(essential for aquatic life), salinity, pH levels, phosphorus

(can encourage excess growth of plants including algae),

turbidity (cloudiness of water) and water temperature.

The data is used to help waterway managers, such as DSE

and catchment management authorities, understand the

long term trends in the health of waterways. The informationcan also be used to flag a decline in water quality so it may

be investigated further.

Waterwatch is a volunteer community engagement program

that helps monitor the health of waterways across the state.

Waterwatch Victoria successfully connects local communities

with river health issues and management, empowering

residents to take responsibility for monitoring the health of

their local waterways. Volunteers are key to the success of

Waterwatch, putting in countless hours of monitoring,

communicating and caring for their local creeks, wetlands

and rivers.

To access the Waterwatch Victoria Data Management

System or find out more about becoming a volunteer, visit

www.vic.waterwatch.org.au or contact Emma Nilsson,

Waterwatch Team Leader on (02) 6043 7616.

A video outlining how the online data management system

will work is available atwww.youtube.com/DSEVictoria.

UPCOMING EVENTS

National Volunteers Day Monday 5thDecember

The most important date

coming up is International

Volunteers Day on the 5th

December. A very big Thank

You to all those people who care

about the environment and pick

up rubbish all year round.

George, Lorna, Pat, Helen,

Peter, Hannah, Andy, Shirley

and I know there is a lot more of you. I thank you. I see you

walking along One Mile Creek and the Ovens & King Rivers

with bags to collect rubbish. One very special Thank you to

Jackie a friend of mine who walks every day picking up

rubbish and putting what she can in the recycle bins around

town, she even clears rubbish from Yellow Creek. Its all the

people who care, and ROW helpers that keeps me inspired

not to give up trying to keep our waterways clean.

WHOS AT FAULT

Monday 21st November 2011, Article by Diane Farmer

What a disappointment.

I decided to go for a walk early this morning as it was such a

nice day and I was feeling happy with the world, but it didnt

take long before the smile on my face started to disappear.

At the car park in Clements Street at Apex Park, there was

take away rubbish, walking over the Ovens River Bridge I

happened to look over the side of the railing and dumped

right next to the Rail Trail under the bridge was an old

computer chair. Still trying to keep a happy feeling I walked

down Murphy St, I then happened to look down one of the

laneways and what did I see? A trolley, so I walked down

the lane and there were two trolleys, one full of rubbish.

Walking out into Reid Street what did I spot out the front of

the Westpac bank, another two trolleys. Cutting through the

laneway to Ovens Street there was another trolley at the

back of one of the shops. Now by this time I was reallystarting to feel down, then when I stepped out into Ovens

Street what greeted me was another trolley.

Feeling angry by this time, I walked down Ovens Street

heading home. What did I spot at the bus stop in Rowan

Street? Two more trolleys. Now I know that buses stoprunning at lunch time Saturday, so the trolleys must have

been sitting there all over the weekend. As I walked passed

the car park at Co-store what was there? Another trolley. By

this time the nice day and the happy feeling I had at the

start of my walk was completely gone and disappointment

had really taken a hold of me!
http://www.vic.waterwatch.org.au/http://www.vic.waterwatch.org.au/http://www.youtube.com/DSEVictoriahttp://www.youtube.com/DSEVictoriahttp://www.youtube.com/DSEVictoriahttp://www.youtube.com/DSEVictoriahttp://www.vic.waterwatch.org.au/


8/8


December 2011

After getting home I had to go out to Tone Road to drop

some papers off to a friend and what did I spot driving past

Batchelors Green dumped in the garden area past the traffic

lights? Another trolley. I was in the frame of mind by this

time to go buy some chain and a few padlocks and start to

chain them all up where they were dumped but this wouldcost me money and no doubt I would end up in trouble

instead of those people who are at fault.

THE QUESTION IS WHO IS AT FAULT?

Trolleys all over town; is it littering, or is it stealing on the

part of the person who took them from the shops car park?

Is it the supermarkets fault for leaving them out in the open

and not chaining them up at night, or not checking around

the block at sunset to see if any of their trolleys have been

taken out of the car park?

It is just the start of the warmer weather and there is such a

big problem already, so how many will I find each morning insummer? I dread the thought.

Come on Managers of the places who have trolleys, if you

cant get a person to check around the block at sunset and

lock them up at night, PUT IN COIN OPERATED TROLLEYS

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Because some members of the community

have a bad habit of pushing trolleys into the Ovens River or

One Mile Creek. Thanks to the supermarkets who do lock

them in store and use coin operated trolleys.

WANGARATTA COMMUNITY PRIDE

COMMITTEE YEAR IN REVIEWArticle by Margaret Pullen, Chairperson

Here it is December and almost the end of another year.

What an exciting and challenging year it has been for the

Wangaratta Community Pride Committee, with a change in

direction and purpose from being an Advisory Committee to

suddenly a non-Advisory Committee.

Congratulations to the committee for bonding together and

achieving some great outcomes.

At the Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards, hosted

in Rutherglen on 22 October, Travis Robinson (Community

Pride youth member) was awarded the Young Leaders-

Individual Award. What a thrill for Travis and the committee.

Mal Robinsons, Truck and Coach Maintenance business was

awarded the Efficient Energy Award. What a result a family

affair, with father and son taking out major awards.

Naturally the Community Pride Committee was thrilled with

these results.

Wangaratta was named one of the six finalists in the Tidy

Town of the Year. These results are a testament to the

committees continuing hard work.

On 22nd October the Rural City of Wangaratta hosted a Civic

Reception to Travis and Mal.

Margaret presented the Tidy Town Finalist plaque to Mayor

Anthony Griffiths and congratulated the council grounds staff

on their efforts in maintaining the roundabouts, parks and

streets creating a beautiful city.

OTHER WSN GROUPS

Publicity/Advocacy Food Sustainability Home Energy Waste Action Group (WAGS)

For more information contact:

Dr Rowan OHagan- Secretary/Treasurer Email: [email protected] Deakin Court, Wangaratta VIC 3677 Website: www.wangarattasustainability.org

Ph. (03) 5721 8231

This Newsletter designed by the Volunteers at Community Skillsbank, Wangaratta.

Under the umbrella of the

Wangaratta Urban

Landcare Group

Family/Household/Organisation $10 per year

Single $5 per year

Student $2 per year

NEW MEMBERS WELCOME ANY TIME
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.wangarattasustainability.org/http://www.wangarattasustainability.org/http://www.wangarattasustainability.org/mailto:[email protected]

croaker newsletter dec 2011 final

Documents